[Afyounie]

If you go to cichlid-forum.com they have profiles on different cichlids. You can look at the dwarf cichlids in the south american category. There are a lot of blackwater tanks on that site made especially for dwarf apistos and other dwarf blackwater fish. Cardinal tetras should be ok with dwarf apistos due to the different regions of the tank they occupy, and the apistos are really small. For plants, put stuff that would grow tall enough to get to the light, because there isn't much that grows low in those low light conditions.